Christmas Romance
by NightWolf35
Summary: So this story is based off a Hallmark movie call "Marry Me at Christmas." I thought the story line lent itself well to a Bellamy and Clarke AU and has a Christmas theme for the holidays. Octavia and Lincoln are getting married and wedding planner Clarke discovers her celebrity crush, Bellamy Blake, is none other than Octavia's big brother.


Clarke Griffin stood outside her bridal shop, Paper Moon, hanging up Christmas decorations. She finished hanging up the last garland when her best friend and business partner came out of the shop.

"Why does it seem like we have more and more Christmas decorations every single year?" Raven asks as she came out of the bridal boutique that she co-owned with Clarke. Clarke smiles and shrugs.

"Because they're pretty" She says hopping off the ladder she was standing on. Raven shakes her head and places the box of decorations she was carrying on the ground.

"You love Christmas just as much as you did when we were kids." She laughs.

"Well, that's because there is no better place for it than Arkadia. Year after year…" She bends down to pick out another ornament and when she looks up she sees Raven's worried expression.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just 'year after year' isn't a guarantee anymore, Clarke. I mean, we don't even know if we can stay open past January first, when the rent goes up." Raven says.

"We're expanding the store to jewelry and accessories, and you're doing more social media."

"What if it doesn't make up the difference? We will have no choice but to close the store."

Clarke sighs. They'd been having this same conversation more frequently now. Clarke couldn't explain why she had such faith that they were going to be fine, even with the increase in bills, but she did. Changing tactics, she handed Raven a tinsel covered bow to add to the garlands. "Let's finish decorating, and then we can brainstorm ways to bring in more income."

Smiling, Raven attached the bow she was handed to the garland next to her. She glances at Clarke and grins. "Perfect. Thank you."

* * *

It was dark out before the girls called it quits and closed the shop. As they walked home, they admired the surrounding shops all lite up with Christmas lights.

"I love Arkadia at Christmas time. Look how beautiful it is. Isn't it magical?" Clarke says, looking around at the surrounding shops.

"It's my favorite time of year." Raven says, all earlier worry put aside for now as the two took in their home town all spruced up for Christmas.

The girls chatted about everything and nothing on their way home. When they reached the block where Clarke's parents lived, she said goodnight to Raven and headed down to her parents house for a quick visit. Not bothering to knock, she walked in and smiled at her dad standing by the dining room table trying to untangle some Christmas lights.

"Hey, Daddy." She says walking over and giving him a kiss on the head.

"Hey, kiddo!"

"Clarke!" Her mother calls out simultaneously. "Have you and Raven finished decorating the shop?"

"Almost, except for a couple of strands of lights. Do you have any to spare?"

"Of course." Her mom says and begins to rummage through the Christmas box sitting next to her.

"Hey, you know what you may want to try? Syncing up the lights to music." Her dad chimes in. Opening and closing his hands, to signify the blinking lights, he began to sing along to jingle bells that payed softly in the background.

Clarke shook her head and shared an amused look with her mom. "I'm not sure we have that in the budget, Daddy."

"Yeah. Maybe next year." He says, chuckling to himself.

"I'm sure everything's gonna work out just fine at the store, honey." Clarke's mom adds. "You and Raven are doing everything you can."

Abigail smiles at her daughter and then walks over to her husband and kisses him on the cheek.

"Please stop being so adorable." Clarke says, rolling her eyes amused at her parents.

"You're gonna find your 'adorable' one of these days, honey. You just have to get out there, you know? It has been three years since Finn left." Abigail stated emphatically.

"Abby sweetheart!" Jake says in a warning tone.

"Please don't go there, Mom."

"I'm just saying." Abigail says holding her hands in surrender.

"I know what you're saying, but you know what I'd really love for Christmas?" Clarke asks.

"Yeah, your mom not 'just saying' anything else?" Her dad pipes in and receives a smack on the arm from his wife for the effort.

"We have a winner." Clarke says grabbing the lights she needs and making a quick escape.

"Ding-ding-ding." Jake says and smiles at his wife while wiggling his brows. Abigail rolled her eyes at her husband and runs to catch up with Clarke at the door.

"I just want you to be happy honey." She says as Clarke puts her scarf on.

"I know mom. I love you too." She says back and blows her dad a kiss as she stepped back outside to brave the cold and head home.

* * *

The next morning Clarke stood behind the main desk at Paper Moon and poured over their schedule book. They were booked pretty solid despite the holiday season. That should make Raven happy and keep her fears at bay for a little while at least.

"Hi. Welcome to Paper Moon." Clarke says as the front doors chimed. Looking up from the schedule book, she watches a beautiful, young couple make their way over to her.

"Hi." The woman says. She had long, dark brown hair that almost looks black when the light hit it just right.

"That's a lot of poof." She says to the mountain of a man standing next to her. He grins down at her but says nothing.

"We also carry a wide selection of 'poofless' options." Clarke says, coming around the desk.

"Do you have an 'express' section?" The woman jokes.

"Well, every dress needs to be altered to fit you perfectly, but we can make that happen." Clarke says smiling at the couple. "When's your big day?"

"Christmas Eve."

Surprise colors Clarke's face before she quickly schools her expression again. "Okay, that's… soon."

"I know. It's not enough time, right?" The woman says. Her nervousness beginning to leak into her voice.

"It's plenty of time. I'm Clarke, by the way."

"Octavia Blake." She says and then gestures to the man next to her. "And this is my fiancé, Lincoln."

Clarke and Lincoln exchanged hellos before Octavia continues.

"We just found out that Lincoln got accepted to a medical residency program in London. We want to get married before we go."

"Congratulations. What's your specialty in?" Clarke asked him.

"Cardiothoracic surgery. I'm a heart guy." He says staring fondly at Octavia. Clarke smiles as the two share a loving look before clearing her throat.

"That's cool. My mom is an ER physician." Clarke says and then turns to Octavia. "Okay. Where's your ceremony being held?"

"Right here in Arkadia. I designed the town's website a few months ago, and just fell madly in love with the place." She says as she thumbs her way through a rack of dresses next to her. "And since I'm back in town to help Mayor Jaha with all the website's Christmas content."

"And I have a month off before my program starts." Lincoln adds.

"We thought we could do everything here at once. I can work, Lincoln can study, and we can plan our wedding." Octavia finishes.

"Sounds like you two have it all figured out." Clarke smiles at them.

"Yep!" Octavia says. Then grimaces. "Okay, no. I need help. So much help."

"Give me a minute." Clarke smiles and reaches for the schedule book she left on the counter. "How does 11:00 a.m. tomorrow sound?"

"Thank you." Octavia says, relief clear in her voice.

"No problem."

* * *

Bellamy drove down Hollywood boulevard, to the mainstream coffee shop his agent like to frequent. He manages to stage a parking, pretty much unheard of at this time of day. Looking up, he sees a giant billboard of himself. It was a promotion board for his latest movie. Bellamy signs to himself.

He loves acting and the life it affords him. He never would have been able to take care of his little sister, let alone pay for her degree, after his parents died, but he was growing tired of all the added baggage that came with his celebrity. That's why he was looking forward to this mini break he was taking for his sister's wedding.

"Bellamy! Over here." Bellamy glances over to see his agent waving him down as he made his way through the cafe. He tried hiding his face as other patrons got out their phones and began taking photos.

"Hey, Kane." He says as he shakes the man's hand and sits down across from him.

"How's my favorite client?" Kane says. He eyes however remain rooted on his phone as he obsessively types away.

"Good."

"So, what'd you want to talk about?" Kane asks Bellamy, glancing up. "Wait! Before you answer… here is the script for Fire's Edge 3."

Kane slides over the script to Bellamy just as a women walks over and asks for an autograph. Bellamy smiles and signs the picture she hands him. When he's done he turns his attention back to Kane.

"I… I wanted to talk about…" He tries to voice his thoughts but is again interrupted by another group of people wanting photos and autographs. When he finishes a second time, Kane turns to him and smiles.

"So? You were saying?" He says. "Right. Your next project. You are holding it in your hands."

"Kane, about Fire's Edge… I'll have to read it later. I'm heading out of town first thing in the morning." Bellamy says, rolling up the script without even a glance.

"Bellamy, you've got a photo shoot tomorrow, and a meeting with the Fire's Edge director." Kane says dismissively. Amusement laces his voice as he once again types away at his phone.

"I'm sorry, but I need some time to get away from all this." Bellamy says, gesturing to the groups of people still lingering around him snapping photos.

"I'll buy you a massage." Kane says again brushing Bellamy off.

"Kane, this is important."

"So is this movie!" Kane says, setting down his phone and looking at Bellamy.

"I actually never said I wanted to do another Fire's Edge."

"Bellamy. Be serious."

"It's a small town in the Northern Californian mountains called Arkadia. I already had your assistant rent me a house up there." Bellamy says standing up to leave.

"What? No, no, no. Bellamy, this is not a good time to leave."

"I'll call you." Bellamy says ignoring Kane's protest.

"No. Bellamy? Bellamy wait!"

"Good talk, Kane." Bellman waves and exits the cafe despite Kane calling after him.

* * *

"Octavia! Hi." Clarke calls when she spots Octavia crossing the street to where she is standing.

"Hey! I was just gonna get a peppermint mocha and take a little walk before our appointment." Octavia smiles.

"I was about to do the exact same thing. What some company?" Octavia nods and the two girls resume walking down the side walk together this time.

"There's nothing better than Main Street at Christmas." Clarke says as the they make their way to the local coffee shop. When they were half way there Clarke stops Octavia as a thought pops her mind. "Hey! Are we waiting for anyone? Your mom, or a sister?"

"Nope. It's just me today." Octavia says. A sad smile crosses her face before she can fully turn away from Clarke and begin walking again.

Clarke jogs the few steps to catch back up and stops Octavia again with a hand on her arm. "Hey, I didn't mean to hit a nerve back there."

"Its okay. My mom passed away when I was young and I my dad was never a part of the picture. But you didn't know any of that shat so its all good. Promise." Octavia says and the two start walking again.

Clarke, still feeling bad and a little unsure, nods and follows Octavia's lead. "Okay, well, let's talk about what you were thinking for a dress. We've already established nothing too poofy."

"Or frilly. Or blingy." Octavia says scrunching up her fave causing Clarke to smile. She's relieved Clarke let the conversation of her parents pass.

"You want refined. You want elegant. You want…"

"Gingerbread!" Octavia cuts in as she spots two men setting up a gingerbread decorating station.

"What?" Clarke says confused at the abrupt change in topic. She follows Octavia's gaze and smiles at two of her closest friends. "I didn't know they'd started already. Come on!"

"Hey, Monty! Jasper!"

"Hey!" They say in unison.

"This is Octavia. She's getting married here in a few weeks."

"Great." One of the men says before trying to hand them decorating tools. "Okay, you two are on roof duty."

"Monty, I don't know if Octavia has time."

"I have time. This is awesome." Octavia says smiling at Monty. She accepts the icing bag Jasper hands her. Clarke laughs and accepts gumdrops from Monty and begins decorating the front go the gingerbread house.

"So, how about you tell me what you have planned so far? Where is the ceremony? Your reception?" Clarke questions after a few minutes of decorating and joking around with Monty and Jasper.

"I don't have anywhere booked yet." Octavia says with out pausing in her icing of the roof top.

"How many bridesmaids do you have?" Clarke pauses in her decorating as she awaits Octavia's answer, a sinking feeling beginning to form in her stomach. Octavia pauses and gives Clarke a sheepish grin.

"None? This was kind of last-minute and I didn't want anyone to feel obligated to change their plans for the holidays."

"You don't, by any chance, have a color scheme, do you?" Clarke asks gently.

"It's not just white?"

"You did not think this through very well, did you?" Jasper says ignoring Clarke's glare and the elbow to the ribs Monty gives him.

"I know. I know." Octavia says, putting down the icing. "What am I going to do."

"Hey! Why don't you plan it for her?" Jasper says.

"Yeah, right." Clarke deadpans.

"Well, why not?" Monty adds. "I mean, you're smart, you've got great taste, you know everything about weddings in this town."

"Wait. I thought you were a wedding planner?" Octavia asks, turning to Clarke.

"No, sorry, I just do dresses." Clarke says.

"But you could do it, right?" Octavia asks, hopeful.

"Of course she could do it!" Jasper smiles at Clarke's glaring face and blows her a kiss when Octavia has her face turned.

"The thought has crossed my mind as a way to expand my business, but it is a big leap to go from dresses to entire weddings." Clarke says slowly.

"But there's no one else here that can help me."

"There's really not." Monty says.

"I guess we can get married at the courthouse. Not exactly the wedding of my dreams." Octavia mumbles as she picks up the icing bag again.

"It… It's really not." Jasper adds, mimicking Octavia's dejected tone.

"Okay! Okay, I'm not gonna let that happen." Clarke says. Pulling out her phone she shoots off a quick text to Raven. "I'll text Raven, my business partner."

Clarke barely hit send when Raven responds to her.

"What did she say?" Octavia asks trying not to peer over Clarke's phone.

"She thinks it's a great idea. But look, Octavia, you are placing a lot of trust in me, and I don't want to let you down."

"You won't." She happily chirps and exchanges high fives with Monty and Jasper.

"How do you even know that? You just met me." Clarke says rolling her eyes at the three of them.

"I just know. My gut feelings are never wrong.

"I bet they really aren't." Clarke says amused. Taking a deep breath, she turns to face Octavia fully. "Okay. Let's do it."

"Yay!" Octavia squeals and jumps up and down.

* * *

Driving all night, Bellamy reaches Arkadia by mid morning. He clooses to stop at the first homey little coffee shop he sees; Morgan's Books and Beverages. As he's turning off the car, his phone beeps with yet another message from Kane. Ignoring the call, he steps out of his car and takes a deep breath, enjoying the fresh, cold winter air.

Once inside Morgan's, Bellamy makes his way over to the counter to order. He decided to drink his coffee before calling his sister to let her know he'd made it to town.

"Hi. Can I get a large dark roast with room for cream, please?" He says, as he reaches the order counter, sparing a quick glance at their menu.

"Sure thing. Name?" The girl at the counter asks without looking up from the register. When she does, Bellamy watches the recognition light up her face and she gives him a shy smile.

"S… Steve." He stammers out.

"Okay… _Steve_." The girl replies with a smile, going along with his obvious lie.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

* * *

Clarke finally manages to pry Octavia away from the clutches of Monty and jasper and the two girls make it to Morgan's.

"They have an amazing section of wedding magazines and books in here" Clarke says as they step into line and wait to place their orders. "I'll show you and we can get a feel for what your wanting."

"That's sounds perfect."

Glancing around the shop as they wait in line, Clarke thinks she's hallucinating when she spots Bellamy Blake in the shop. "My gosh. Is that Bellamy Blake?"

"He's here?" Octavia squeals looking around before her eyes land on him.

"That's definitely him. My goodness. He's SO _gorgeous_." Clarke says. She and Raven were huge Bellamy Blake fans. He was even better looking in person than on screen, she muses.

Out loud she says, "Wonder what he's doing in Arkadia."

"His sister's getting married." Octavia smirks at Clarke's expression before launching herself towards her brother. "Bellamy!"

Bellamy whirls around just in time to catch Octavia as she leaps into his arms and gives him a bone crushing hug.

"Hey sis!" He's laughing as he sets her down.

"Hey! I can't believe you're here." Octavia's voice sound breathy with excitement.

"Yeah! I came down early. Figured I could help with the wedding."

"Well, then there's someone you need to meet." Octavia says and gestures for Clarke, who was looking nervous and unsure, a look Octavia had yet to see on her, to come over. "This is my wedding planner, Clarke Griffin."

"Hey. Bellamy Blake. Nice to meet you." He says and extends his hand.

"Octavia didn't tell me she had a brother. Or that her brother was you. You're you." Clarke says tripping over her words.

"Well, I am me. I think." Bellamy says, feeling his face. "Yep… Definitely me."

Bellamy smirks at the blonde standing next to his sister as she rolls her eyes at his antics.

"I probably should've mentioned this earlier." Octavia says leaning towards Clarke.

"That would've been great." Clarke nods.

"Bellamy came early to help with the wedding. Isn't that sweet?" Octavia says to Clarke, amused by the nervous energy that had come over the blonde. Turning to Bellamy she says, "But I still feel weird about you paying for all of it.

It's Bellamy's turn to roll his eyes. "You are out of your mind if you think I'm gonna let you spend a dime, O."

"Sky's the limit." He catches Clarke's gaze and says.

"Okay. Sky is the limit. Got it." She brakes their small stare down as buzzing from her bag distracts her. Glancing at the caller ID she excuses herself and steps away.

"Raven?"

"Can you stop at the office supply store on the way back?" Raven aks instead of hello. Clarke laughs. She's use to Raven's directness by now.

"Yeah, but I don't know how long I'm gonna be, because I'm having coffee with Octavia and her brother… Bellamy Blake."

Raven scoffs into the phone before she replies. "Bellamy Blake? Yeah, well I am having tea with George Clooney. Anyways, we need printer paper."

"No, no, Raven, I'm serious." Clare stresses.

"Bye!" Raven sings and hangs up the phone before Clarke can say anything else. Clarke shakes her head. Turning, she takes a deep breath before rejoining Octavia and Bellamy.

"Hi. Ahem. So. Where were we? That's right. You were being you." She says and rolls her eyes at herself. Why was she unable to talk like a normal person around Bellamy.

"So… Octavia just told me that you own the local wedding dress shop, but you've never actually planned an entire wedding?" Bellamy says. He eyes narrowing on Clarke.

"Yeah. That's true." She says slowly picking up on the slight hostility to Bellamy's tone now.

"Is that something you think you can handle, Princess?"

"It's Clarke. And, yeah, I do." Clarke says with a bit more force to her voice.

"Bellamy, she knows everything about weddings." Octavia tries to defuse the growing tension between her brother and Clarke.

"She also knows my name will bring her tons of free publicity to her store." Bellamy bites out.

"Actually," Clarke cuts in. She's already feeling prickly at being called princess and bristles even more at the accusation. "I agreed to do this wedding before I knew who you were."

"It's true, Bellamy." Octavia adds.

"I'm sorry." Bellamy says, only feeling slightly bad about the causation he had thrown at Clarke. He still wasn't sure what to make of her. "It's just… you know, usually, people want something from me."

"Well, I don't." Clarke says. Her voice sounding harder than it had been. All traces of the nervousness she'd had upon meeting Bellamy were now gone.

Octavia not liking the tension that had sprung up tries to bring the conversation back to her. "So, back to my wedding planning."

Clarke looks at Octavia's hopeful face and shakes her head. Who was she kidding. She wasn't a wedding planner. "Look Octavia, I'm not sure I'm really the right person for this job."

"You are. She is! Please do it." Octavia pleads, looking between her brother and Clarke. After a beat, when no one says anything, Octavia glares at her brother and kicks him under the table.

Bellamy glares back at his sister for a moment before sighing. He can never tell her no. "Look, if you're who Octavia wants, then… I'm not gonna stand in your way."

Clarke stares at Bellamy for what felt like hours but really was only a few seconds. He can feel himself getting lost in the crystal, blue orbs staring at him. He watched her shake her head, obviously coming to some sort of internal agreement or decision and turn to look at Octavia.

"All right. Then there are some wedding magazines over here we should look at." Glancing back at Bellamy she adds, "Will you be joining us… _Jimmy_?"

Bellamy smirks at the sugary, sweetness oozing from her voice in contrast to the hardened look she gives him. "It's Bellamy. And I see what you did there, Princess."

As Clarke and Octavia pull out wedding magazines, Bellamy grabs onto the first magazine he sees and holds it in front of his face. Tucking himself into a corner, Bellamy peers over the top of the magazine as a new wavy of patrons enter Morgan's.

"You realize you're acting like you robbed a bank, right?" Clarke says as she hands Octavia a few more magazines.

"Ahem. Force of habit." Bellamy says, slowly lowering the magazine from his face.

"He doesn't get a lot of privacy in L.A." Octavia says as she pours over the new magazine Clarke handed her.

"Look, Bellamy, no one in this town is gonna bother you. It's a safe space." Clarke says. Despite his rudeness a few moments again, Clarke still doesn't want him to feel like he was going to get hounded overtime he steps out around town.

"Hello, Clarke, honey. Doing a little Christmas shopping?"

Clarke turns and is treated by an older woman. She smiles. "Actually, no, Gladys, I am planning a wedding."

"Finally." The woman says and gives Clarke a big hug. Bellamy can't help the chuckle that escapes him.

"Ahem. No. Not mine." Clarke mumbles. Her cheeks growing red. "This is my client, Octavia, and her brother, Bellamy."

"I know who he is! Can I get a selfie?" Gladys asks as she pushes past Clarke and Octavia to get to Bellamy.

"I don't think Bellamy wants to take pictures right now." Clarke tries to say but Bellamy overrules her.

"You know what? That's okay. Come on in here, Gladys." He says and wraps an arm around the middle aged woman as she came to stand beside him.

"Thank you!" She says, smiling up at him. "Ready?"

It's Clarke's turn to laugh at Bellamy's expression when Gladys hold up her archaic Polaroid camera.

"That's quite a camera. And quite the flash, too!" Bellamy says as he blinks his eyes to get rid of the spots he now sees.

Clarke smirks as Gladys thanks Bellamy again and kisses him full on the lips before bustling away to continue her shopping. She and Octavia laugh at Bellamy's stunned expression before turning their attention back to the wedding magazines they had spread out.

"So why don't you take a look at these, and tell me what you like?" Clarke suggested.

"I don't need a magazine. I got an idea up here." Bellamy says and taps his head.

"Great, okay. Let's hear it." Clarke says, glancing up at him.

"Christmas in Scotland!" He says. "Everything is red, green, and white plaid."

"What? Come on, you love Scotland." Bellamy says when he sees both Clarke and Octavia grimace.

"I also love pugs, but I don't want that to be

the theme of my wedding." Octavia says, shaking her head.

"How about this? I'm thinking muted wintry tones, something that evokes a fresh snowfall, that symbolizes a new start, a new beginning in your life with Lincoln." Clarke says bringing Octavia's attention back to her.

"I love that." Octavia smiles.

"So, I guess this means no bagpipes either?" Bellamy mumbles under his breath.

"He is joking, right?" Clarke asks; her head tilted and brows furrowed.

"Sadly, he is not." Octavia states, not even bothering to looking up from the magazine pictures she was currently looking at.

"I was also thinking that maybe you could pull up to the ceremony in a sleigh." Bellamy says, his expression hopeful. Turning to Clarke he adds, "Can you get a reindeer? If you can't, I can call my animal guy and fly one in."

Before Clarke can respond, Octavia steps in and puts the magazine down and faces her brother. "Bell… this doesn't need to be a Hollywood production."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry O. I'm just really excited for you." He says. His shoulders sag down a little in defeat. "Since Mom isn't here, I kinda feel like I'm doing it for her, too."

Octavia's exasperated expression softens and she smiles at her brother. "I know. I love you too big brother."

Bellamy smiles in return. "Love you too, O."

* * *

"Clarke!" I thought you were coming back to the store." Raven yells as she burst into Clarke's home without knocking. "I am dying! I cannot believe you are planning Bellamy Blake's sister's wedding!"

"So you believe me now?" Clarke laughs as Raven prances around her kitchen. Raven had seen Clarke and the Blake siblings leaving Morgan's earlier in the day.

"This is huge for us! We are going to be in every wedding magazine and website in the country. You did it." Raven says ignoring Clarke's comment.

"Except…"

"Except… What?" Raven turns to look at Clarke, pinning her with a stare.

"I may have told him we wouldn't use his name for publicity."

"Why would you do that?" Clarke winced at the pitch of Raven's tone.

"Well, I didn't want him to think we were using him." Clarke adds defensively.

"We are using him! That's how it works." Raven shouts throwing her hands in the air.

"Look, I'm sorry, but you can't tell anyone about this right now. But hey! I am going to be bringing in

extra money at the end of the quarter." Clarke says, hoping to placate her annoyed friend.

"How much money?"

"I haven't exactly settled on a price." Clarke says, looking back at her computer screen, avoiding Raven's glare.

"CLARKE!"

"Well, I wanted to see how much wedding planners make first." Clarke sighs, meeting Raven's gaze once again.

"Well, it depends on how much the client has… He has a lot."

"I'll take care of it. Don't worry." Clarke smiles up at Raven and bats her eye lashes.

Raven tries to continue glaring at her best friend but after a moment can't help the smile that overtakes her face. "Just promise me you don't go easy on them because he's a big movie star and she's super sweet."

"Promise. Now do you want to help me generate a list of wedding venues or continue to rant a little bit more?" Clarke asks, smirking at Raven, who sticks her tongue out but pulls up a chair to help.

* * *

The next morning Clarke mets up with Octavia, Lincoln and Bellamy back at Morgan's to go over venues. They each got a cup of hot cider and Clarke pulls up the list she and Raven made the night before. She also saved a few photos of each location and powered up her laptop for those.

Almost an hour and several cups of cider later, they were no closer to pinpointing a venue for the wedding. Nothing was feeling quite right to Octavia or Lincoln.

"So, that's a 'no' to the manly man-lodge venue?" Clarke says looking at Octavia, who is shaking her head even before Clarke finishes talking.

"Unless my gown is made of flannel."

"And a 'no' to the town hall?" She asks again, this time looking at Lincoln.

"It's too… What's the word I'm looking for?"

"Rigid? Cold?" Octavia pipes in.

"Yes. That." He says.

"Okay." Clarke marked off both locations on her list.

"Couldn't we just set up one of those tents outside?" Bellamy asks the group, trying to wipe the discouraged look from Octavia's face. But Clarke just shakes her head.

"In every wedding movie, what happens when there's a tent?" She asks, looking at Bellamy.

"It rains?" He says with a shrug.

"And then?" She prompts.

"Splash!" Lincoln says, catching on to Clarke's meaning.

"I don't want a tent." Octavia says, here eyes wide as she stares off imagining the tent coming down during her wedding.

"Yeah, me neither. Whose terrible idea was that, anyway?" Bellamy scoffs and Clarke stares at him amused.

"I'm out of cider. O, you want a refill?" Lincoln says, standing.

"I'll go with you. I could use a break." She says and the happy couple walk up to the register to order more drinks.

Bellamy watches them for a moment. To think he hated Lincoln when Octavia first introduced them. It was nothing personal against the guy exactly. Bellamy had a hard time accepting the fact that his baby sister was grown. She wasn't the same little girl he use to give piggy back rides to and read bedtime stories to. And the first time she really brings a guy around, its a 6'2", muscled out guy who looks like he belongs on the cover of a magazine rather than bent over an operating table.

It took a long time but eventually Bellamy began to trust Lincoln. And he had to admit his sister has never looked happier than when the big, bad doctor has his arms around her.

Bellamy smiles again before turning his attention back to the blonde still seated with him. She was bent over her notebook and laptop coming up with more venue ideas. He took a moment to take in her long blonde hair to her electric blue eyes. He thought it was cute the way she bit her lip as she lost herself in thought.

He knew he owed her an apology. Octavia had ripped him a new one after they had big farewell to the feisty blonde wedding planner. Bellamy knew he'd been rude yesterday but he couldn't help it. It wouldn't have been the first time people had used those close to him to try and get something.

As Bellamy lost himself in thought, Clarke chose that moment to look up and catch him staring. She tilted her head and raised her brows in question.

Bellamy cleared his throat twice before he could talk; having been caught staring. "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday. I know I was being a little rude."

"More than a little." Clarke mumbles returning her attention back to her laptop.

"You got to understand," Bellamy quickly adds reaching for her hand to bring Clarke's attention back to him. "Octavia's the only family I have. I just want what's best for her."

Clarke smiles. She reaches over and places her free hand over top his. Giving his hand a small squeeze, she says, "Octavia will have the wedding of her dreams. I promise you. And don't worry about the venue. We are just getting started."

"So we were thinking…" Octavia starts to say, as she and Lincoln came back to the table. She pauses when she sees Bellamy and Clarke holding hands. Both seem to realize why she paused at the same time and jump back from each other. They look anywhere but at each other. Octavia's grins but she lets the moment slide.

"So we were thinking," She starts again, "That we take a break from the wedding plans and get some air for a bit. Major Jaha just called and needs me at his office."

Both Bellamy and Clarke readily agree and the foursome make their way outside. After they bid Lincoln and Octavia goodbye, Bellamy and Clarke stand staring at each other awkwardly.

"So, I guess i'll see you." Clarke says. Bellamy nods and both make to leave only to realize they are headed in the same direction.

"My car is parked this way." Bellamy explains when Clarke notices him fall into step beside her.

"Right."

After a few minutes of silence and more than a few curious glances thrown their way, Clarke turns to Bellamy. "It must be really weird, having people stare at you all the time."

"Sometimes," he chuckles and waves to a small group of girls eyeing them. "it's a little much."

"I guess it's kind of what you signed up for though, right?" She questions.

"Yeah, I never really thought it'd be like this." Bellamy says quietly.

"Well, you know, like they say, life is what you make it." They lapse into silence again after that. As they continued to walk down the street, Bellamy smiles at Clarke. He can feel his defenses slowing coming down where she's concerned. He was about to ask her more about herself when she skipped away from him all giddy. He watches her take a ribbon from a booth set up near the town gazebo and tie it to the railing. When he catches up to her she turns to him and smiles.

"Okay, your turn."

"For what?" He asks, confused as to what she just did.

Clarke's laughter does strange things to Bellamy. She adds a few dollars to the collection jar next to the ribbons. "It's a town tradition, and all the money benefits Make-a-Wish Foundation. You take a ribbon and tie it to the rails making a wish."

"Well, I would, but I don't have any cash on me. Does the gazebo take credit cards?"

Clarke laughs again an rolls her eyes. "I'll put it on your tab."

"You know, we should probably talk about that. Your fee." Bellamy says as he follows her directions and ties a ribbon to the gazebo.

"Right. Of course." Clarke says and reaches into her bag. Pulling out a piece of paper she hands it to Bellamy. "I made a list of what wedding planners make. Priced low to high. I figured somewhere in the middle would be fair."

Bellamy glances at the spread sheet she handed him. "That doesn't seem like enough."

"No, it's okay." Clarke says waving off his concern.

"Are you sure? I can pay you more." Bellamy says skeptically.

"Yeah. I'm making a profit. It's fine."

"You are literally the worst negotiator I've ever met in my entire life." Bellamy says amused.

Clarke grimaces. "I know. I think I paid twice as much for my first car as it was worth."

"So, did you wish for an Academy Award?" Clarke asks as they begin walking again.

"What?" Bellamy asks not keeping up with her train of thought. Clarke points to the Gazebo and Bellamy laughs. He found himself doing that a lot around her.

"What makes you say that?"

"Isn't that what all actors wish for?" Clarke says. Her question almost sounding like a statement.

"What'd you wish for?" Bellamy asks rather than answer her.

Rolling her eyes Clarke scoffs at Bellamy's question. "If I tell you, it won't come true."

After walking a few more feet and chatting, Bellamy stops and sighs dramatically. "Okay. I can't do this. You're like, walking in slow-motion."

Clarke laughs. "It's called strolling."

"Right, but I'd like to make it to the end of the street before I hit retirement age." Bellamy says pretending to be exasperated. He shakes his head at Clarke continues to simply laugh at him and doesn't change her pace at all.

"Hey." Clarke says to a man in his mid forties as he passes them.

"Who's that?" Bellamy asks.

"Mr. Sinclair. My second-grade teacher."

"So you basically know every single person in this town?"

"Yeah. I suppose so" Clarke shrugs.

"In L.A., I don't even know my next-door neighbor." Bellamy muses.

"Really? I was engaged to mine."

"What happened?" Bellamy asks.

"We had different goals in life. And we also had differing ideas about the exclusiveness of our relationship."

"Sorry."

"It was a long time ago." Clarke says.

"Is there a gym nearby? I haven't worked out in a while." Bellamy asks, trying to change the subject and bring it back to a lighter topic.

"Nope sorry." Clarke states.

Bellamy glances at her. "How is that possible?"

Clarke shrugs. "You just hike up the mountain, do pull-ups on the tree branches, swim in the lake. Boom! There's your gym."

"Right." Bellamy slowly says and glances at Clarke when he hears her snort. She meet his gaze and unsuccessfully tries to suppress the laughter bubbling up.

"I'm kidding!" Che barks out giving up trying to look serious. "The gym's down the block. We're not cavemen."

They were still laughing and joking when they reach Clarke's store and Bellamy's car.

"Ahem, this is me." Clarke says pausing out side her store. She didn't want to admit it but she was having a good time with Bellamy and wasn't quite ready to day goodbye.

"All right, well…" Bellamy stammers out, feeling the same way as Clarke. Before either of them can say anything else, Raven chooses that moment to come flying out of the shop.

"Hi! I'm Raven. I'm Clarke's business partner. You must

be Bellamy Blake! I mean, what am I saying? Of course

you're Bellamy Blake!"

"Hey!"

"You know," Raven continues with out pausing for a breath. "I was thinking, maybe you would want to take a photo for our wall of fame?"

"We don't have one of those." Clarke says, giving Raven a hard look.

"We can start one." Raven glares back at her.

Clarke shakes her head and turns to Bellamy. "Run."

Bellamy nods at Clarke and heads quickly to his car.

"Nice to meet you, Raven." He calls over his shoulder.

"Yes! Yes. Bye, Bellamy Blake." Raven yells as he drives away. She waves until his car is out of sight. Rushing back into the store she corners Clarke in the office. "Clarke! You are a genius."

"Am I now?"

"Yes! You start dating him, and then the publicity for the store happens naturally!" Raven squeals. She can already see it.

"You are out of your mind. He's Bellamy Blake: movie star." She says, "and I'm Clarke Griffin: small town wedding planner."

"Hey now. Give yourself some credit." Raven says, getting serious for a moment. "You are funny, and smart and beautiful."

"Look, even if he was a regular guy, I would not date him. He's outta here in, like, three weeks. What would be the point?" Clarke dismisses Raven.

"He's Bellamy Blake!"

"No. Let it go, Raven." Clarke says.

* * *

A couple of days later, Clarke grins as she hears the front doors of her shop chime. Looking up she sees a nervous but excited Octavia and Bellamy walk in.

Coming around the desk she hugs Octavia. "You ready to try on some dresses?"

"Yes! I can't wait." She says.

Clarke smiles.

"Well, Jimmy, why don't you take a seat and Octavia and will go grab some dresses for her to model for you." Clarke teases.

Bellamy grins. "Sure thing, princess."

Octavia rolls her eyes at the two of them and allows a chuckling Clarke to guide her to a dressing room where she already has a few dressing waiting. Picking out the one she likes the most, she slips on the dress with Clarke's help and heads back out to show Bellamy.

They continue this pattern for the better part of a hour. Octavia is beginning to feel a little discouraged. She wasn't having that "aha" moment all brides talk about when they find that perfect dress.

"It feels too, princess-y." She says to Clarke as she stared at her reflexion. The dress she has on was a beautiful, strapless ballgown. It had a sweet heart neck line and flared a little at her waist. But the longer octavia stared, the more she was certain that this dress wasn't for her. Glancing at Bellamy through the mirror, she jokingly says she should just wear a pantsuit.

"Octavia. Do not stress. This is all a part of the process." Clarke reassures her. "And now that I've seen you in a few dresses, I have a better idea of what you need."

Octavia nods, not fully convinced.

"I'll call in some favors and get new dresses sent here A.S.A.P." Clarke says. "Don't worry."

"Thanks, Clarke." She smiles at her.

"Me too." Clarke grins and gives Octavia a hug.

* * *

Bellamy was spending a quiet morning in his house working on a new story when his phone begins ringing, breaking his train of thought. Glancing at the caller ID, Bellamy sighs and figures he couldn't ignore Kane forever.

"Kane."

"So you do have cell service?" Kane says by way of reply.

"Yeah, it's a little spotty." Bellamy says, ignoring Kane's annoyed tone.

"So did you read the Fire's Edge script yet?"

"I'm gonna have to get back to you. I'm only about halfway through." Bellamy lied.

"So what did you think about the Hawaii scene at the beginning?" Kane asks him.

"Loved it."

Kane sighs into the phone. "There is no Hawaii scene."

"Then have the writer put one in." Bellamy says not caring that he'd been caught in a lie. He was starting to lose his patience.

"Bellamy."

"I gotta go, Kane. Bye." Bellamy says and hangs up before Kane could reply. Staring down at his phone, Bellamy decides to head into town early and see if Clarke was free. He liked hanging out with her. He didn't feel like he had to constantly be on guard with her.

Bellamy made the short drive into town and was lurking outside the bridal shop when Clarke came out. She paused when she saw him and smiled.

"Hey! Sorry if there was some confusion, but Octavia is not coming for another couple of hours."

"No, I know. I came down early. Look I got gloves!" He says holding up his glove covered hands. Clarke gives him an amused smile.

"I forgot what it feels like to actually be cold, you know?" He rambles on when she says nothing. "Kinda reminds me of when I was a kid."

"Where did you grow up?"

"Florida."

"Brr-r-r?" Clarke says, clearly confused.

Bellamy laughs.

"I Know, I know, shut up. If you must know every year, my mom would rent a snow machine and build a hill out in front of our house." He smiles lost in his memory. "The whole neighborhood would show up. The snow would melt in about an hour, but it was the best hour of the whole year."

"That's really sweet, Bell." Clarke says. Then blushes when she realized what she said. Bellamy either doesn't hear her clearly or doesn't mind the use of his nickname on her lips because he just smiles bigger at her.

"Yeah. Well, I'm really happy that Octavia is getting married here. She will have a white Christmas for her wedding." Bellamy says, choosing not to call Clarke out on the use of his nickname; which, up until two seconds ago, only allowed Octavia to use. "Even if it wasn't already snowy, I'd hire a guy to make some."

"You have a 'guy' for just about everything, don't you?" Clarke says, rolling her eyes.

"Pretty much." Bellamy shrugs and gives Clarke a small, almost shy, smile that she'd only see him toss Octavia's way. She can practically feel her heart thawing a little more for him.

"Well, I'm going to go see my 'tree guy'." Clarke says, trying to get her mind off of the way Bellamy made her feel.

"I want a tree guy!" He says.

Clarke can't help but laugh at the pout that comes over his face. Before she can think better of it she tells him to come with her. Bellamy smiles and falls into step beside her.

Forty minute later, Bellamy is helping Clarke carry the Christmas tree she'd picked out, home.

"Thanks for helping me take this home." Che calls over she shoulder to Bellamy who was carrying the other end of the tree.

"Well, you know, you could've had it delivered, like mine was. I would've paid for it." He calls back.

"Thanks, but dragging a tree home is half the fun." Clarke says and adjust her grip on the tree.

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing I was here to help you then?"

Clarke stops and turns to look at Bellamy. Raising her brow she smirks at him.

"Actually… I was just humoring you." She says and lifts the tree away from Bellamy and carries it the rest of the way on her own.

"Okay." Bellamy says to himself, amused by Clarke. He watches Clarke walk away carrying the tree over her shoulder with ease, even though the tree was about three feet taller than she was.

When Clarke was about five feet away from him, Bellamy had an idea. Reaching down and making a ball of snow, Bellamy stood and tossed it at Clarke's back.

"I always wanted to do that." He grins at her in challenge.

"Okay." Clarke says, tossing down the tree. "Why don't I show you how it's really done?"

"Go for it Princess." Bellamy laughs. He runs behind a light pole and makes some more snowballs. When Clarke stands back up, she has no idea where he's gone.

"Bellamy?" she calls, looking around. "Bellamy?"

When she turns around again she' hit square on the chest with another snowball. She gasps as the cold, wet snow slipped onto her coat.

"How's that?" Bellamy called. Clarke narrows her eyes.

"Now you're toast." She yells back and throws several snowballs at him. After a few minutes Bellamy hold up his hands and laughingly walks towards her.

"Okay! Okay! I surrender! I surrender!" He says. "You throw hard!"

"All-state champion, softball. Four years in a row." Clarke says smugly. She picks up her Christmas tree once again and begins walking to her house. Bellamy just laughs and watches her as he wipes the snow from his coat.

Later that night after Clarke finished decorating her tree, she sat back with a hot cup of cocoa and admired the lights. Noticing a gossip magazine on her coffee table, no doubt left by Raven, she opens it up and begins haphazardly reading through it.

She stops when she get to an article about Bellamy and his Fire's Edge costar Gina Parker. They were rumored to be in a relationship. Clarke didn't want to examine why that made her heart painfully constrict. Shaking her head, she tossed the magazine down and decide to call it a night.

The next morning Clarke was strolling through town with her parents looking at all the new Christmas booths that had been set up now that Christmas was only a few days away. As they paused just out side of "Santa's Village" Clarke looked up to see Bellamy a few feet away writing something in a notebook.

He seem lost in thought. Clarke smiled as a bit of his curly, black locks fell into his face and he impatiently swatted them away. He must of have felt her eyes on him because in the next moment he looked up and his gaze locked on Clarke. He smiled and slipped his notebook into his messenger bag before jogging over to her.

"This is all so cool." Bellamy says as he reached her.

"If you think that this is cool, wait till you see the official tree lighting a couple days from now." Clarke says and smiles.

"This place really doesn't mess around when it comes to Christmas." Bellamy states.

"No, we don't."

Clarke jumps at the sound of her father's voice behind her. She'd completely forgotten they were there with her. Smiling she takes a step back and introduces Bellamy.

"Bellamy, these are my parents, Abigail and Jake Griffin"

"Hey, nice to meet you." Jake Griffin reaches out and shakes Bellamy's hand.

"This is Bellamy." Clarke says gesturing to Bellamy standing next to her.

"Nice to meet you." Bellamy says, releasing Jake's hand.

"You look really familiar. Did you used to work at the Stop'n'Shop?" Clarke's mom asks him. Bellamy laughs.

"Mom, Bellamy is an actor." Clarke says, blushing.

"Well, would you have been in anything I've seen?" Abigail asks, making Clarke blush even more.

"Yeah, he was in that Fire's Edge one. The one you hated." Clarke's dad answers for him. Clarke was sure she was going to die of embarrassment before this conversations was over. She smiles, at least she thinks it came out as a smile and not a grimace, when Bellamy turns to her and smirks.

"Sorry, it was just really loud." Abigail says.

"No need to apologize. You know what? I totally agree." Bellamy laughs at Clarke's expression.

"So… what brings you to town, Bellamy?" Jake asks.

Bellamy stares at Clarke, surprised by her father's question. He had figured she had told her parents about the new gig she had planing his sister's wedding. "You didn't tell them?

"You told me to keep it quiet." Clarke shrugs and states matter-of-factly.

"I know, but… people usually don't." Bellamy whispers almost to himself, seemingly lost in thought.

"Well, maybe you're hanging out with the wrong people." Clarke adds and smiles gently.

"Maybe so."

"Hey, Clarke!" They all turn to see Octavia and Lincoln walking up to the group.

"Hey!" Clarke says warmly and gives Octavia and Lincoln hugs. Turning to her parents she introduces the two of them. "Mom, Dad, this is Octavia, Bellamy's sister, and her fiancé, Lincoln."

"Nice to meet you." Abigail says.

"You're pretty. Are you an actress, too?" Jake asks Octavia.

"No, I do coding and web design. I'm doing the website for Arkadia." She says, smiling.

"I have no idea what coding you just said but good for you." Jake turns to Lincoln he pretends to whisper, "You've got a catch here."

"I know." Lincoln chuckles, smiling down at Octavia. Octavia leans up and kisses Lincoln's cheek and then slides over to Bellamy's side and wraps him in a hug.

"You know what all of this reminds me of?" She asks him.

"Yeah. I know." He says and hugs her back. As the siblings shared a moment, the group turned at the sound of approaching horse hooves.

"There's Santa. I love how excited all the kids get when Santa comes." Abigail says, smiling as the children run behind and next to the horse drawn carriage.

"Well, all of you should come back to the house. We're having our annual dessert potluck." Jake says, turning back to the group.

"Dad, I think that they have better things to do than hang with the locals." Clarke says. She mouths 'sorry' to Bellamy and Octavia.

"No, I think the locals are starting to grow on me." Bellman says while looking at Clarke.

"Me too." Octavia adds.

Clarke smiles at the two of them and tries to ignore the little flip her heart did when Bellamy smiled at her.

"Well, then it's settled!" Jake says, smiling at his daughter. He gives her a squeeze as he walks past. "Come on. Bellamy, you can walk with me."

"Okay, then. Let's go." Bellamy says, falling into an easy conversation with Clarke's dad.

Clarke stared after the group as they all start walking to her parents house. What is happening, she thinks to herself as she jogs to catch up.

* * *

Later at Griffin house, with the party in full swing, Clarke finds Bellamy sitting on the couch with her mother, an old photo album sat opened on their laps.

"Mom? What are you showing him?" Clarke questions staring between her mom and Bellamy.

"Just all the photos with you and Santa." She says innocently.

"Not the one where I got nervous." Clarke winces as Bellamy just grins and nods. "Mom, seriously?"

"I'm sorry, honey. I forgot it was here." Her mom smiles sweetly.

"I'll be right back." Bellamy says as Octavia waves him down from across the room. Jasper and Monty have just arrived and she wants to introduce them. He smirks at Clarke as he passes her, causing her to shoot daggers at him. He just chuckles even more.

After talking with Monty and jasper for some time, Bellamy excuses himself and goes in search of Clarke. He spots her talking with Raven and a guy he didn't know in the living room. As he made his way over, a little boy jumped down from the stairs and lands in front of him.

Bellamy smile and kneels down. "Hey, buddy. What's your name?"

"Connor."

"You like action movies, Connor?" Bellamy says looking down at the boy.

"Only the battles. I'm awesome at karate! I'm an orange belt now!" He shouts excited.

"Really? Think you could take me?"

"Yeah!" Connor yells.

"Bring it on." Bellamy says. The two play fight for a few minutes before Bellamy surrenders. "Okay. No! No!

I give up!"

Connor jumps up excited and runs over to his mom yelling, "I defeated Alpha One! I defeated Alpha One!"

"That was very nice of you." Clarke says appearing at his side as Bellamy stands from the floor. "Connor's a big fan of yours."

"Best part of the job." Bellamy says, shrugging off Clarke's praise.

"Listen, about earlier, I hope my Mom didn't ask you too many personal questions." Clarke says. She and Bellamy sit down on a nearby couch together. "She doesn't really understand boundaries."

"Yeah, are you sure she's not a plant for the tabloids?" Bellamy grins at Clarke.

"Oh definitely, she's been lying in wait for, like, 30 years on the off-chance a celebrity would come to her potluck." Clarke jokes in mock seriousness. Bellamy chuckles.

"You know, I'm kidding about your mom, but, people haven't always turned out to be who I thought they were." He says in a moment of pensiveness.

"Yeah well, that is a quality that is not exclusive to celebrities." Clarke says. Before Bellamy can ask Clarke what she was talking about Gladys comes up and shoves a piece of her fruitcake in his mouth.

"Do you like it?" She asks. Bellamy smiles around the dry piece of cake and nods as he tries desperately not to choke. Clarke laughs at his expression and leans close to his ear as Gladys walks away smiling.

"That's another Arkadia Christmas tradition… Trying to convince Gladys you _love_ her fruitcake." She chuckles and pats his shoulder. "So you're basically a local now."

"Cool. Gotta get some water." Bellamy's voice comes out a hoarse whisper.

"Some fruitcake?" Clarke asks not quite hearing him and laughs at the glare she receives in return.

Bellamy spends the rest of the party chatting and teasing Clarke. She introduces him to a few people here and there, like Raven's boyfriend Wick, but they mostly keep to themselves, tucked away in one corner of the room or another. By the end of the party Bellamy is the last to leave. Clarke walks him to the door, they're stopped on the way by her parents wanting to say goodnight.

"So did you have a good time, Bellamy?" Abigail asks him as he slips his coat on.

"I did."

"You sound surprised." Clarke grins.

"It's been a long time since I've been to a party that wasn't, work related." Bellamy replies.

"Well, you're welcome back any time." Abigail says.

"Thank you." Bellamy says to her.

"Take it easy, Blake." Jake says and guides his wife back to the living room to give Clarke and Bellamy a moment alone.

"Thanks again." Bellamy says as he is left alone with Clarke by the front door. "Goodnight."

Bellamy and Clarke give each other a small hug and he leaves.

"Night." Clarke called out to him as he closes the door. Smiling to herself, she joins her parents in the living room. She wants to help clean some before she leaves for the night.

"Hey! Clarke?"

"Yeah, Dad?" She says looking up at her father.

"Is that Bellamy's bag?" He picks up a brown messenger bag from one of the chairs and hats it to her.

"If you hurry, you can catch him." Her mother adds. "He probably needs this tonight. Go, we can manage the cleaning. We'll see you tomorrow for lunch."

"Are you sure?" Clarke questions even though she's already tossing on her coat and grabbing her own bag. Both her parents nod and shoo her to the door. "Okay. Bye, I love you both."

Outside she runs down the walk way and calls out for Bellamy when she spots him by the curb looking up at the snow falling. "You just forgot your bag."

"Thanks." He takes his bag from her and continues to stare at the falling snow. Clarke follows his gaze then looks back at Bellamy.

"is everything okay?"

"Yeah. It's just, I've never seen snowflakes this big, where you can actually see the patterns of the crystals. It's just… beautiful." He says.

"It's sort of like little tiny pieces of artwork only you can see." Clarke smiles up at the snow.

"Yeah. Exactly." Bellamy says turning his attention to Clarke. They were standing so close Clarke could count the freckles that dusted his cheeks with ease. Feeling embarrassed, Clarke broke eye contact first and put some space between them.

"Goodnight, Jimmy." She says softly and turns towards her own home.

"Night, Princess." Bellamy smiles and walks in the opposite direction.

* * *

The next few days pass in a blur for Clarke and she doesn't get to see Bellamy again until Friday morning when she, Octavia and Lincoln are at Morgan's going over wedding invitations.

"Like I was saying," Clarke says as Bellamy approached. "You can pick formal invitations, but because the wedding is so soon, I think you might also have to do one online."

"Isn't doing it online tacky?" Octavia questions.

"Either that, or no one shows up." Clarke states.

Octavia nods. "Tacky it is."

"Hey, Bellamy." Lincoln says and clasp Bellamy on the back as he comes up behind him.

"Lincoln, you're like a ninja." Lincoln laughs and gives Octavia a kiss before sitting next to her to go over invitations.

"Good morning." Clarke says shyly when her eye meet Bellamy's.

"Morning. Ahem. What are those?" He asks, gesturing to Clarke's laptop.

"Invitations." Octavia responds.

"No. This, " He says, gesturing to a box in his hand, "is an invitation. It's a reclaimed-wood box. When you open it, pine, the smell of Christmas. The invitation is actually attached to this hand-blown glass ornament… which becomes a wedding keepsake. Pretty cool?"

"It's… incredible. But I was thinking something more like this." Octavia hands him an elegant wedding card invitation.

"That's, nice. It's the cheapest. Don't you want the best?"

"Bell, you have no idea how grateful I am that you're paying for my wedding, but, I'm the bride. I'd like to pick out my own invitations." Octavia gently says.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push. I just… I want your wedding to be perfect."

"And it will be." Clarke piped up from across the table.

It took two hours, but the foursome manage to get all the invitations out. Deciding to tackle flowers next Clarke takes the group to the local flower shop.

"So I think we have to stay seasonal, but we can maybe get some tuberose or calla lilies." Clarke points out the flowers in question to Octavia. She plays around with arranging some to give her ideas about the look

"Or I could have my flower guy fly in tulips from Holland." Bellamy says, looking over Clarke's shoulder. "I'm joking." He adds. "Unless, of course, you want them. And judging by both of your faces I'm going to take that as a no."

Bellamy glances down as his phone chimes and alerts him to an incoming call. "Excuse me, I gotta take this."

Octavia leans over to Clarke. "Must be his agent. He only paces like that when he calls."

"Why's that?"

"Kane is a very intense man." Octavia chuckles. Both Clarke and Octavia look up from the flowers they are currently messing with as a small group of carolers walk by. Octavia follows them, pulling out her phone to record the performance. When they finish singing, she turned to Clarke in triumph.

"Yes! Got it on video. This'll be a great addition to the town's website." She glances through the video to make sure she has what she wants. "This town brings in

the real pros?"

Clarke shakes her head. "Nope. These guys are just volunteers."

She introduced Octavia to the town's dental hygienist,

grocery store manager, dog trainer, and car repair man.

"Do you think they'd be willing to sing something when I walk down the aisle?"

"Maybe, but I don't think "Jingle Bells" is gonna cut it, guys." The acapella quartet takes a moment, then begin to sing a traditional wedding processional. Octavia and Clarke look at each other and laugh.

"You're hired. I'll call you guys later." Clarke says as the quartet smile and continue down the street.

"Thank you!" Octavia calls after them.

"Those carolers were incredible." Bellamy says rejoins the group. "You know what? We should hire them to sing that when you walk down the aisle."

"That is a great idea." Clarke smirks.

Bellamy narrowed his eyes and looks between Octavia and Clarke, who were both trying unsuccessfully to suppress their giggles.

"Really? You're not gonna cut me down?" Bellamy eyes Clarke suspiciously.

"As long as you don't fly in a symphony orchestra to back them up."

"Fine." Bellamy pouted.

Lincoln shook his head as the girls turned and headed back into the flower shop to finish up, laughing at Bellamy's expense. He bumped his future brother-in-law's shoulder and headed after the girls.

* * *

"So, is Bellamy coming tonight?" Abigail questions her daughter as they, plus Raven, make their way down main street. It was the night of Arkadia's annual tree lighting ceremony.

"I invited him, but I don't know if he's coming."

"Well, all I'm saying is you are a lot happier when he's around."

"I noticed that, too!" Raven grins, when Clarke sends her daggers with her eyes.

"Okay, you two need to take the crazy somewhere else. Thank you." Clarke says as they made their way over to her father who was waiting for them near the tree.

"I know that couple. They just got engaged." Raven says randomly, spotting a young couple that Clarke had gone to high school with. "I am going to make sure she is not buying her dress in San Francisco.

"Go get 'em!" Clarke says, laughing, as Raven confidently walks up to the couple and starts chatting wedding dresses. "I swear I don't know how Wick handles her."

Abigail chuckles but agrees. They walk a little further when she thinks she spots Bellamy looking around aimlessly.

"Isn't that Bellamy? He's looking a little lost." Abigail says shifting Clarke's focus. "Is he looking for Octavia and Lincoln?

"I don't think so. They went into San Francisco for the night." Clarke says.

"Well, if he's all by himself, I'm gonna invite him over." Before Clarke can protest, her mother calls out to Bellamy. He smiles at the Griffin women when he turns and spots them.

"Hey, guys." He jogs over to them.

"Hey, Blake! Want some hot cocoa?" Jake says, also joining Clarke and her mother.

"No, thanks Jake, I'm good."

"Since this is not official wedding planner business, don't feel obliged to hang out with us." Clarke says not wanting Bellamy to feel like he has to spend time with her or her crazy family.

"I don't. Unless you don't want me to?

"No, It's fine." Clarke says. Bellamy and Clarke stare at each other for a few moments, smiling but saying nothing. Next to them Abigail and Jake share a knowing smile. Clearing his throat to get their attention, Jake gestures to the podium, where Mayor Jaha has just stepped up to the microphone.

"Hi, everyone! And welcome to the 67th Annual Arkadia Christmas Tree Lighting. And what a gorgeous night it is to light this beautiful tree! So are you ready?"

The crowd cheers in response and Mayor Jaha starts the count down. As he reached three, two, one, Bellamy reaches out and grabs Clarke's hand. She looks up at him, surprised.

Bellamy grins at the small, shy smile she gives him and before he even realized what he was doing, he starts to lean towards her. Clarke's eyes widened then jump to his lips. Flashes behind them cause them to jump apart, breaking the moment.

"I'm sorry. No photos tonight, please. Thanks." Bellamy says. When he glances at Clarke he notices her amused smirk. "What? I'm really good with fans. It's just sometimes I'm not in the mood."

"Yeah, they're not taking photos of you." She says pointedly looking at the massive Christmas tree that was just lite.

Bellamy's cheeks flushed. "Think we can pretend that that never happened?"

Clarke was shaking her head and laughing before he even finished. "No. No, we can't."

"Didn't think so." Bellamy closed his eyes in embarrassment.

* * *

The next morning Clarke and Raven decide to meet at the store early to organize the new shipment of dresses that arrived. As they work Clarke tells Raven about Bellamy grabbing her hand and their almost kiss.

"Just admit it. Holding his hand meant something to you."

"He was probably just excited about the Christmas tree." Clarke says, avoiding Raven's gaze. "You just want it to mean something for publicity."

"You know I do."

"And you know I told him we wouldn't." Clarke turns to look at Raven when she refuses to let go of the dress she had been handing to Clarke.

"Clarke, I still don't understand why Bellamy's demands are more important than our store." She finally says releasing the dress.

"We don't need him for the website." Clarke was tired of this argument.

"Yes, but do you know what every website needs? Attention! Attention, that Bellamy Blake could get us."

"I can't do that to him."

"Even if you 'don't' like him? Which we both know you do!"

"Even if I did like him, which I don't, I have no intention of being with someone who isn't gonna be here."

The sound of the stores chimes and Octavia and Bellamy coming around the corner stopped whatever reply Raven had been poised to say.

"Hey." Octavia chirps.

"Hi."

"Hey"

Clarke and Raven said at the same time.

"We should get going, if we're gonna make it to the caterer's on time." Clarke says handing Raven the last dress to hang.

"More food? I'm still in a carb coma from your parents' party." Bellamy jokes, patting his stomach.

"That's okay. You don't have to come." Clarke says a little to quickly, not meeting his eyes.

Stepping into her line of sight, Bellamy manages to get Clarke to look up at him. "Thought we had this same conversation last night. It seemed to work out pretty well."

"Look, Bellamy, you just do whatever you have to do, and that's why I'm here, so you don't have to be."

Octavia who was silently watching her brother and Clarke, rolled her eyes at the two them. Pulling out her phone she shot a quick text to Lincoln telling him she was changing the plans and to meet her at Morgan's for lunch. When he answered back asking if everything was okay, she told him everything was fine and that she'd explain when she saw him.

Looking back up at Bellamy and Clarke, she noticed they were still bickering back and forth paying no attention to her.

"Shoot. You're not going to believe this?" She says, pretending to get and incoming text from Mayor Jaha. "So many people logged on to replay the Christmas tree lighting, that the website crashed." Pausing for effect, she added. "You know what? Just narrow the food down to the best stuff and I'll pick from that. I gotta go."

Smiling to herself she quickly exited the bridal shop and headed over to Morgan's to meet up with Lincoln.

"Looks like it's just you and me, then." Bellamy says, as he turns back to Clarke after Octavia's haste exit. "Should we go?"

"I'm just gonna get my coat." Clarke sighs.

At the restaurant, they were lead to a quite, intimate booth near the back. Bellamy and Clarke sit across from each other in silence for a few minutes until Bellamy brakes it.

"You're awfully quiet today. Is something wrong?" He asks. "Is this about what happened between us last night?"

Clarke gives up staring at her napkin and glances up at Bellamy. "What happened last night?" She says playing dumb.

"When I was holding your hand, we almost kissed." Bellamy prompts.

"Right. That. I just figured we got caught up in the romance of it all. That happens here at Christmas all the time. I just don't want you to think that I thought it meant anything." She says, ignoring the way his face seems to fall at her words.

"Good. That's… That's a relief. Because, then, how could that work, right?" Bellamy says grudgingly following her lead. He could feel his walls coming back up slightly at Clarke's brush off. "My life is so insane, I'm rarely in one place for very long. I'm practically like a nomad."

"And I love my life here. And a slow, quiet life is not for everyone."

"Well… at least we cleared the air, right?" Bellamy says, as their waiter brought out the first dish for them to try.

"Yeah, Clear. Mountain. Air." Clarke says, not liking how distant Bellamy already felt.

* * *

Two days later Clarke invited Octavia and Lincoln over to her house to discuss wedding cakes.

"So, where's Bellamy? I thought he was coming by today." Octavia says sitting down at Clarke's kitchen table.

"I didn't want to bug him about the cake stuff until we'd narrowed it down."

"So you're not just trying to avoid him?" Octavia pushed.

"No. Why would I do that?" Clarke avoids Octavia smirking gaze.

Deciding to give Clarke an out, Octavia changes the topic. "We should talk about the groom's cake. Lincoln, why don't you tell Clarke what you had in mind for the cake?"

"A cake shaped like a heart." He says smiling at his fiancé.

"That's actually really sweet." Clarke not quite understanding Octavia's eye roll.

"A biologically-accurate human heart." Octavia adds.

"That's actually really awesome." Clarke says, geeking out with Lincoln.

"Traitor." Octavia laughs.

"We'll talk later." Clarke says to Lincoln with a wink. They high fives, causing Octavia to throw a pen at then, making them laugh.

Later that afternoon, after the cakes had been ordered and Lincoln and Octavia left, Clarke was wandering around main street looking at all the little holiday booths, when she bumped into Bellamy.

"Been a few days." He says giving her a small smile. "So, what have you been up to?"

"Still planning Octavia's wedding." Clarke says, not happy with the stilted way they were talking. "You?"

"You know, just, puttering around the house."

"Careful, that sounds like one step closer to 'strolling'." She says with a grin. "You might actually slow down."

Bellamy smirks at Clarke.

"I should get back to shopping." He says after a moment.

"Yeah. Me too." Before Clarke can take a step away, Bellamy stops her, not quite ready to watch her leave.

"I can't seem to find the right Christmas gift for Octavia."

"Well, what do you have so far?" Clarke asks, noticing the gift box in his hand.

"It's an Arkadia Christmas key fob."

"Wow, that's…"

"The lamest gift ever?" Bellamy finishes for her.

Clarke nods. "Yeah. Pretty much. Here come with me. I just saw something I think would be great."

Bellamy follows Clarke to a jewelry booth a few feet away. He watches her scan the selection before she picks up one of the necklaces and hands it to him.

"This is it. It's a pine tree. It represents a family's strength and resiliency, and reminds us that even when conditions change around us, we have strong roots."

Bellamy stared at the tiny silver locket with two pine trees etched into the front. He smiles warmly at clacker when he looks up and meets her eyes. "It's perfect. Thank you."

Clarke looks away and squirms a bit when Bellamy continues to stare at her. "What?"

"Nothing. You just, keep surprising me." He says.

Clarke brakes the moment they are having when she spots Jasper walking briskly up main street and calls out to him.

"Santa has the flu! Just didn't show up. Kids have been waiting for two hours!" He says when he reaches Clarke. He nods a hello to Bellamy hen he spots him next to Clarke.

"Do you still have the suit?" Bellamy asks.

"Sure. Why?" Jasper replies. He all but tackles Bellamy when he offers to play Santa. Clarke laughs as Jasper drags Bellamy away so he can get suited up.

Clarke enters Santa's Village and stands just to the right of Santa's chair. She smiles as she watches Bellamy interact with the kids. He is so good with them. She felt her heart give and involuntary flutter. This was not helping her non-crush she had going on, especially when a little girl by the name of Charlotte came up and sat on his lap.

"Merry Christmas!" Santa Bellamy says. "And what's your name?"

"Charlotte."

"Charlotte. What would you like Santa to bring you for Christmas?"

"I want my daddy to come back." She says in a small voice.

"Where is he?"

"He's in heaven."

"I see." Santa Bellamy says just as quietly. "Well, I'm so sorry. I wish I could bring your daddy back. You must miss him very, very much."

Charlotte nods.

"Do you talk to him every night, before you go to sleep?"

Again Charlotte nods.

"Never stop doing that, okay? Because he can hear you. As long as you keep talking to him, he'll always be with you." Santa Bellamy says, giving Charlotte a hug.

"Thank you, Santa."

"You're welcome. Merry Christmas, Charlotte."

"Merry Christmas, Santa."

Clarke waves at Charlotte as she runs over to her mom. When she looked back at Bellamy she noticed he had a pained and distant look to his eyes but quickly recovered as the next child jumped into his lap. She blinks a few times trying to stop the tears that threaten to spill. She was so screwed when it came to Bellamy Blake.

* * *

Monday rolled around and with it came the dress Clarke special ordered for Octavia. When she had seen it she had known instinctively that it was the dress for Octavia. Holding up the shipping box as she came out from the back office, she smiled at Octavia's excited expression.

"I think your going to love this dress and we still a week to spare for alterations."

Clarke set the box down and cut into it. Her smile slowly fades as she opened the box and pulled out the dress.

"I have to be honest, Clarke, This isn't exactly what I was looking for." Octavia says as she stares at the blinged out poofy, princess ballgown in Clarke's hands. "It's kind of the opposite, actually."

"Yeah. I'm so sorry, Octavia. This is not the dress I ordered. I don't know what happened." Clarke tilts her head as she stares at the dress. "I know this dress. It's designer. It's like, $10,000."

At the mention of the price, Octavia and Clarke both look at each other and shake their heads.

"Bellamy." They deadpan in one voice.

"Good! It came." Bellamy says at the same moment, entering the shop and seeing the dress.

"You had this sent?" Octavia says wincing at the dress again.

"I called my stylist in L.A. the day you couldn't find a dress, and this is the one everyone wants." He says.

Octavia sighs at her brother. "I'll go try it on."

"Are you sure?" Clarke asks.

Octavia looks at her brothers smiling face and then back at Clarke and nods.

"Okay! Come on." Clarke says and leads her back to a dressing room. A few minutes later Octavia emerges and shows Bellamy the dress on her. Everyone holds their breath as Bellamy looks at Octavia. The dress did nothing for and and was truly the opposite of her personality.

"Octavia, that dress is-is… It's awful." He finally bites out on a laugh. "I'm so sorry."

Both Octavia and Clarke sigh in relief that he didn't like the dress.

"Is this the box that you were looking for?" Raven says coming out of one of the back rooms.

"Yes!" Clarke grabs the box from Raven. Turning to Octavia, she says, "What do you say we get you out of that dress and into something else."

"I think that's a good idea."

"Okay, let's do this." Clarke ushers Octavia back into the dressing room.

"Oh Clarke," Octavia says, a few minutes later as she stares at her self in the new dress. The simple but elegant strapless, lace gown hugged all of Octavia's curves beautifully until about mid thigh where it flared out slightly. "This is it. This is my dress."

"Those are happy tears, right?" Bellamy says leaning over towards Clarke.

"Absolutely." Clarke smiles. She loved this part of her job. She loved the amazed and awe-inspiring look a bride got when they've found that one dress that made them feel like a million dollars.

Bellamy hugs Clarke, breaking her thoughts, and whispers thank you in her ear before catching himself and stepping back.

Clarke blushes and tries to avoid the slightly awkward moment by blurting out the first thing that came to her mind.

"Does anyone want to go to Grounders' and celebrate?" She asks the room. "They have a Christmas Candy Cane martini I have been dying to try. Say 8:00?"

"I'm in." Bellamy says quickly.

Raven and Octavia share a look and smirk at each other.

"I would totally go, but, I have plans to go to the Italian restaurant with Lincoln." Octavia says as she makes her way back to the dressing room.

"And Wick and I are watching Christmas movies all night. Raven says, following Octavia.

Clarke rolls her eyes at her supposed best friend and Octavia. Turning to look at Bellamy she says, "I guess I'll see you there at 8:00."

"Or I could stop by your place and we could walk there." Bellamy suggest.

"I don't think that's a really good idea, you know, because we said that we wouldn't go on a date, remember?"

"I remember. So it's not a date. It's an _outing_." Bellamy says. "It's just two people walking together to a place where they will proceed to hang out. Together."

"An outing. Okay, I like that." Clarke says and starts to walk away before she can become any more of an awkward dork. "Later."

* * *

"Green? Or red?" Clarke asks Raven, holding up two different dresses in front of her body. It had taken her the better art of an hour to even narrow her choices down to that, after she left the store earlier.

"The red one." Raven says from Clarke's couch. "So tell me again how this not a date?"

"We are not talking about this again." Clarke looked at the red dress and nodded. She agreed with Raven's opinion.

"Yeah, sure, we won't talk about the fact that you're passing up a golden opportunity for P.R."

Clarke rolls her eyes.

"I'm also saying this as your best friend." Raven continues. "If you really like him, what's the harm in seeing where it goes?

"I have to protect myself. Even if I do have feelings for him, this is all it can be right now." Clarke explained.

"Unless you let him in." Raven says. Gently she adds, "Not everyone is Finn."

"Don't you have some Christmas movie marathon to get to?" Clarke says, ignoring Raven's Finn comment.

"Fine. I'll leave." Raven says, not pushing the subject. "Have fun on your date." She calls at the door.

"It's an outing!" Clarke yells back. Maybe if she said it enough she'd start to believe it too.

* * *

Almost two hours later, Clarke hears Bellamy's knock at the door and rushes to go answer it.

"Wow." He says when she opens the door and lets him in.

Clarke blushes and smiles. "You clean up pretty well yourself. Let me just grab my coat and I'll be all set."

"After you." Bellamy says, when Clarke comes back into the room.

They make their way into town, sometimes talking sometimes not. Clarke was enjoying Bellamy's company and had to keep reminding herself that this wasn't a date; no matter how date-like it felt. When they reached Grounder's Bellamy looked up and noticed a mistletoe above the door and pointed it out to Clarke.

"What do friends do when they stand under mistletoe?" She asks.

"I believe, traditionally, it's a high-five." Bellamy says cheekily and held up his hand.

Clarke chuckles at his dorkiness and gives him a high five. Inside the bar they both order a candy cane martini and find a quite table to sit at. Clarke laughs to herself as she watches Bellamy eyeball the martini and grimace.

"What's wrong?"

"There is no manly way to drink this." Bellamy pouts, sounding very put out. Clarke did laugh now, earning a glare form Bellamy.

"Well, it's either this or… Santa's Little Helper." Clarke says and gestures to another couple a few feet away sharing a giant, red drink in a super sized martini glass.

"Candy Cane Martini it is." Bellamy says, even more horrified by the other drink.

"Good choice." Clarke holds her glass up and clinks it with Bellamy's before taking a drink. Clarke smiles at the face Bellamy makes when the sweetness of the martini hit his tongue.

Before Clarke could tease him, his phone rang, pulling his attention away. He glanced quickly at the caller ID before looking back at Clarke.

"I'm sorry. I got to take this."

"No problem." Clarke waved him off.

"I'll be right back."

No sooner had Bellamy excused himself from their table, did Clarke see someone she'd hope to never lay eyes on again. He must be like Bloody Mary, she thought to herself, you said his name to often and he appeared.

"Clarke!" Her worst nightmare calls out when he spots her.

"Finn? Hi!" Clarke says. She stands and gives Finn an awkward hug.

"You look great." He says as they pulled back from one another.

"You look like you went back to college." Clarke says, taking in his appearance.

"Yeah, all the Silicon Valley guys dress like this." He chuckles. "The sloppier you look, the more money you have."

"So you must be rich?" Clarke forces a smile on her face. Finn laughs. A laugh to his right brought Clarke's attention to the woman who's hand he held.

"Oh sorry, " Finn says and introduces Clarke. "Marigold, this is Clarke, the one I told you about."

"Of course." The woman all but sneers at Clarke. She ran a hand through her pin-straight, ash-blonde hair; tucking it behind her ear. Then glances around the bar before turning back to Clarke and smiling again.

"Give it up, Mare. He's not here." Finn chuckled.

"Who are you looking for?" Clarke asks, confused.

"Bellamy Blake." She gushed. "Finn's parents said he was in town. Have you seen him?"

Clarke shrugs. "We've crossed paths."

"I bet all you local girls just freak out when he walks by." She says, giggling and looking down her nose at Clarke, the small town girl.

Clarke barely suppresses the eye roll that threatened to surface. Instead she smiles and played along with Marigold. Her voice took on the same fake, sugary, sweet tone. "We really do. Just a lot of screaming."

"Sorry about that." Bellamy says, choosing that moment to join Clarke again. "Hi. I'm Bellamy Blake." He adds when he noticed two new people had joined Clarke.

"Finn. Nice to meet you." Clarke couldn't help the smug look on her face at Finn and Marigold's stunned expression. She bit her lip when Marigold elbowed Finn. "Sorry. This is Marigold."

"Hi-lo." She stammered. "I mean hello or hi."

"Hi-lo is, is fine." Bellamy smirks.

"So… Bellamy." Finn drawled. "What brings you to town?"

"I just came up to help plan my sister's wedding."

"Bet you can't wait to get back to civilization?" Marigold says, stepping closer and trying to latch onto Bellamy.

"I'm in no rush." Bellamy says side stepping Marigold's clutches. Looking at Clarke, he smiles when she met his gaze. His smile got bigger when he notices a faint, red tinge grace her cheeks.

Marigold's expression turns sour when she sees the exchange between them and glares at Clarke. Finn tries twice unsuccessfully to get her attention before he is able to lead her to their table. He stammers a goodbye to Clarke as they walk away.

Sitting back down at their table, Bellamy leans closer to Clarke and whisper, "That's the guy that broke your heart?"

"Who told you that?" Clarke asks, surprised. "I never told you that."

"I saw him in one of the photo albums at your mom's house." Bellamy grins. "She may have mentioned it. And called him a name that I can't repeat, but, fully agree with."

Clarke reaches out for Bellamy's hand that he placed on the tablet. "I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine now. Really." She gave his hand a squeeze.

"Well, I think you're great. Really." Bellamy says leaning closer to Clarke. They stare at each other for a breath before they start closing the distance. Before his lips could capture hers, Clarke pulls back and releases his hand. Bellamy sits back slowly with a sigh.

"I don't think I can do the friend thing, Clarke. I don't want to."

"I don't think we can be anything more." Clarke says, not meeting Bellamy's eyes. "Seeing Finn is a great reminder of what happens when peoples' lives are on different paths."

"You're over-thinking this Clarke." Bellman shakes his head at Clarke.

"And you're not thinking." Clarke huffs back. Clarke's expression looks pained as she stands, "I'm sorry Bellamy."

* * *

"I love these." Octavia says, the next morning at Clarke's house as they work on the decorative card holders for the seating arrangements.

"Me too." Clarke agrees. "They're turning out great."

Glancing slyly at Clarke, Octavia tries to think of a way to bring up her date with Bellamy casually.

"Are you not telling me about your date with Bellamy because I'm his sister and it's weird?" She finally just asks, failing at the casual approach. "Because its not and as your friend, I just want to know if you had fun. And if you like him. And if you kissed. Okay, the last one is a bit weird. But curiously is winning out over weirdness."

Clarke chuckled.

"O, it was not a date, and nothing happened except me realizing that nothing can happen." Clarke says. "I'm sorry. I know that's not what you wanted to hear."

"But you two are so…" Octavia started but Clarke cut her off.

"O, stop. Please."

"Fine." Octavia signs.

After a few minutes of working in silence, Clarke sees Octavia staring at her again. Smirking at she finished another card holder, she looks up at Octavia and meets her gaze.

"Yes?"

"Clarke, when this wedding is over, we'll still keep in touch, right?" Octavia asks, softly, her expression worried. "No matter what?"

"Of course we will. No matter what. Just try and get rid of me." Clarke reaches over and hugs Octavia. No matter what happened between her and Bellamy, Clarke really like Octavia and wanted to keep in touch even after she and Lincoln moved to London.

"So I was wondering," Octavia starts to say, her voice shy with nerves. Clarke hadn't been sure was possible until that moment. "because it's the holidays and a lot of my friends aren't able to make it, will you be my Maid of Honor?

"What?" Clarke looks up from what she was doing, surprised. "Yes!"

"Yeah?" Octavia asks, excitement starting to leach into her voice.

"Yeah! Of course! Of course I will." Clarke says jumping up and hugging Octavia.

"Thank you." She says hugging back.

* * *

A few hours later Lincoln showed up at Clarke's house bringing much needed hot chocolate and sandwiches. Deciding to break for a while. Clarke gathered some of the party favor items she had at her house and headed out, leaving Octavia and Lincoln to finish the table settings.

Clarke spent the whole walk to Bellamy's house giving herself a pep talk. She took a deep breath before knocking on his door, schooling her expression before he opened.

"Clarke!" Bellamy says, surprised. "I didn't expect to see you today."

"O said you were handling the party favors, so I came to drop off the samples." She says to him and holds out the bag of supplies in her hand.

"Thanks." Bellamy says, glancing through the bag.

"This is really awkward." Clarke says after a moment of them just staring at each other. "I'm gonna go."

"Wait. Want to come in a minute?" Bellamy says not wanting Clarke to leave. Thinking fast he adds, "I just took some cookies out of the oven."

"You bake?"

"Don't sound so surprised, Princess. I'm a guy of many talents."

Clarke laughs but shakes her head. "I should really go, I actually have a lot to do for the wedding."

"How about this, come in for a couple minutes,

have a cookie, I promise, we'll only talk about the wedding." Bellamy was grasping at any straws he could to get Clarke to hang out with him for a bit.

Clarke bit her lip. He was breaking her down. Sighing again, this time in defeat, she gave in. "Okay. But the moment you start being charming, I'm leaving."

Bellamy snorted as she passes by him into the house. "Am I not always charming?"

In the kitchen, Clarke helped herself to the cookies Bellamy had cooling on top of the stove.

"These actually look pretty good." She says when he joins her.

"Well, you know, everything's better when you're in good company." Bellamy says, snagging a cookie himself and smiling.

"Cut it out."

"What?" Bellamy asks innocently.

"I told you not to be charming."

"I'm not."

"Everything's better when you're in good company." Clarke tries to mimic Bellamy's deep tone of voice.

"I didn't say it like that." Bellamy rolls his eyes at Clarke.

"You did! And you add in the side smile thing to further weaken your victims."

"What side smile thing?" Bellamy asks raising a brow and smiling at Clarke.

"You just did it!" Clarke laughs. "I know your game, Jimmy and I'm taking one of your cookies."

Bellamy laughs as Clarke snatches the cookie he had in his hand and turns around. She stops her exploration of his house when she spots his bare Christmas tree.

"This is sadder than Charlie Brown's Christmas tree!" Clarke says, walking up to the tree and glancing at Bellamy over her shoulder. "At least that had an ornament."

"I know," Bellamy sighs. "I bought a bunch of ornaments, I just, didn't get around to putting them up."

"Well, let's do it."

"Now?"

"Yes! Now. This is a Christmas emergency." Clarke states emphatically.

Bellamy chuckles and goes to grab the decorations. They spent the next hour decorating his tree and teasing one another. It was late evening by the time they finished and found themselves cuddled up close to each other in front of the finished tree. The fire place crackled next to them and a plate of cookies sat on the coffee table.

"I forgot how much I love doing this." Bellamy says gazing at his newly decorated Christmas tree.

"Why'd you stop?" Clarke asks.

"Well, when my mom died, it was just… it was too hard. That was our favorite time together as a family, and then it was… it was just gone."

"Octavia mentioned it was just the two of you, but I didn't want to pry. I'm really sorry, Bell." Clarke says, softly.

"It's okay." He looked away from Clarke and instead focused on the tree. "She died just after

I graduated high school. I was 18, and all of a sudden, I was responsible for everything, including Octavia."

"That's why you connected with that little girl when you were Santa." Clarke says.

"I knew just how she felt." He nods. "I really wish mom was here to see Octavia get married."

"She is." Clarke catches Bellamy's gaze.

"You really believe that?"

Clarke nods.

"I really didn't care much about Christmas after she died." Bellamy says. "At least, not until Octavia decided to get married on Christmas Eve and I came up here. Now I care about all sorts of things."

Bellamy stared deep into Clarke's eyes and tries to convey everything she had come to mean to him in the short time he's known her. He watched her search his eyes and whatever she gleamed from them, made her smile and blush.

They continued to sit in a comfortable silence for a while longer before Clarke suddenly realized just how dark it had become outside.

"Did it get darker earlier tonight?"

"It's 8:00." Bellamy says, glancing at his watch.

"Are you serious?" Clarke grabbed Bellamy's wrist to check for herself. "I'm supposed to be at

my parents' house right now."

"Are you sure you're not just running away again?" Bellamy ask. He stands and walks back to the kitchen with Clarke to retrieve her coat.

"I'm sure." Clarke says, smiling shyly at him.

"Okay." Bellamy helps her with her coat.

"Thank you." Clarke says. A few sheets of paper near her keys catch her eye. She picks them up and began to read. "What are these?

"Nothing." Bellamy says, trying to snatch the papers back.

"Did you write this?"

"I was just messing around."

"Bellamy, this is really good." She smiles up at him. "You're a great writer."

"I'm not." He says, a soft blush rising to his cheeks. "I'm an actor. I just do this for fun, you know, between takes, that sort of thing."

"What are you so afraid of?" Clarke asks amazed at the casual way Bellamy brushed off his writing talent.

"Same thing as you. Trusting someone."

"You can trust me." Clarke says gently.

"I was gonna say the same thing." Bellamy finally managed to take the few pages of his latest story from Clarke's hands. He was caught off guard when Clarke throw her arms around him and gives him a hug. It takes Bellamy's brain a moment to catch up but when he does he hugs her back. She buries her head in his neck.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She mumbles against his skin.

"Yeah. Absolutely."

* * *

Early the next day, Clarke takes the Blake siblings and Lincoln to a beautiful, little church just out side of town. They'd decided to have the wedding there after Octavia had seen it and fallen in love with it on one of her trips around town with Mayor Jaha.

"I love this church." Octavia says to Lincoln as they walk down the isle in front of Bellamy and Clarke. "I still can't believe they're letting us use it."

Looking back at the couple trailing behind her and smirking. Bellamy and Clarke walked close together, whispering back and forth, smiling at each other.

"They don't have any services on Christmas Eve?" She asks Clarke.

"No, there are too many people, so we use the high school gym." Clarke says as she and Bellamy catch up with them. Bellamy's phone chooses that moment to ring and him excuses himself to take it.

"What's going on with you two?" Octavia asks when her brother was out of hearing range.

"Today is about you." Clarke says smiling and inhering

Octavia's question.

"I don't get any details?"

"Octavia. Stop the interrogation." Lincoln smiles at his fiancé's giddiness.

Bellamy joined the group then, looking annoyed. "I am so sorry, you guys. I gotta leave for L.A. for a last-minute meeting."

"Now?" Octavia asks. "The wedding is in three days, Bell."

"I'm told I don't really have a choice. But I'll be back first thing in the morning on the 23rd, it's only for a day." He says. "I'll be back in plenty of time. I really wish I didn't have to go." He looks from Octavia to Clarke.

"Me too." Clarke says quietly.

"I'll be back before you know it."

* * *

Clarke invited her parents over for dinner the night Bellamy was back in L.A. her dad praised her cooking as he got up and took his plate to the sink.

Abigail narrowed her eyes at her daughter as they sat at the table. "Clarke, you haven't stopped smiling since we got here."

"I can't help it." Clarke says avoiding her mother's knowing gaze.

"Well, it's nice to see." Abigail states before yelling at her husband to turn off the television.

"I'm just checking the football score." He says. "Jaha and I have a bet going. It'll just take a second."

Abigail rolled her eyes at her husband and Clarke laughed while shaking her head.

"Hey, isn't that Bellamy!" Jake says to the room as some celebrity gossip show comes on the television.

Clarke turns and grabs the remote from her dad and turns up the volume.

"Bellamy Blake and Fire's Edge co-star Gina Parker sharing an intimate meal in Hollywood tonight. Could Bellamy finally be off the market?" The announcer says as they show footage of Bellamy at dinner with a beautiful, chestnut haired woman. She's whispering in his ear and he smiling and laughing with her.

Clarke can feel her heart breaking as she watches the screen.

"Turn it off." She says. She hates how broken her voice sounds.

"Honey." Her mother tries to comfort her but Clarke brushes her off.

"I knew this was gonna happen." Clarke shouts at no one in particular. "I should've trusted my gut. I'm such an idiot."

"You're probably overreacting." Jake tries.

"Did you see the way that he was smiling at her?" She says, taring her eyes from the television to look at her parents. The pity she sees in their eyes grates on her already raw nerves. "It was just easier when I was his sister's wedding planner, and he was the checkbook. And that was it."

* * *

Bellamy sits by himself near his gate at LAX waiting to board. He couldn't believe he'd left Arkadia for the _meeting._ When Kane had called him the previous day, he'd said it was urgent that Bellamy come one for a night to discuss a project he had recently finished. Kane had claimed that the editors had run in to a problem during post production and heeded to see him urgently. He'd flown in that morning and found Kane waiting for him in baggage claim. It was then that Bellamy had been told the real reason he'd been called back to L.A. The almighty, important meeting he had just flown in for was actually a dinner for two with Gina Parker, his Fire's Edge costar.

At dinner, Gina pulled out all the stops to try and convince Bellamy to sign on for the next Fire's Edge movie. Bellamy played along with her game but at the end of the night, after he walked her to her car, he told her that he was turning down the roll and taking a small break from acting. He told her he'd met someone and wanted a real break from the spot light. Gina smiled and said she understood. She even gave him a hug and wished him luck.

Bellamy had driven straight from the restaurant back to LAX. Kane had called a few times but Bellamy wan't in the mood to deal with him. All he wanted was to get back to Arkadia, see his sister get married and get back to Clarke.

When they finally started boarding Bellamy's plane, he was in the middle of answering some emails as fast as he could before they made him turn off his phone, that he almost missed the incoming text from his best friend.

Opening they message quickly and stealthily, Bellamy saw that Miller has sent him a link to some gossip rag and a note saying to check it out. Curious, Bellamy glanced around for the flight attendants before hitting the link.

When the page finally loaded, Bellamy stared down at his phone confused. This couldn't be right. The online gossip magazine showed several pictures of Bellamy in Clarke's shop. The article was calling Clarke his latest love interest and even had a link to her shops website.

Bellamy felt numb. Clarke had broken her promise. He had fallen for her, had trusted her and she had lied right to his face. She went behind his back and used his name to get publicity for her shop. The numbness he felt gave way to anger. He was angry at her, at himself. Powering off his phone, Bellamy spent the next hour and a half of his flight back to Arkadia, simmering in Clarke's betrayal.

* * *

Clarke woke up to a pounding on her front door. Opening it she was greeted by the sight of a very pissed of Bellamy.

"Can I come in? There's a group of paparazzi following me." He bites out. "They're gonna be here any second."

"Why are there paparazzi in Arkadia?" Clarke says as she steps back and lets him in.

"I was about to ask you the same question."

"Maybe they want to hear about your new relationship." Clarke spits back. Her hurt and anger at him starting to rise to the surface now that her brain was shaking off the last remnants of sleep.

"Well… here we are. All over social media." Bellamy says, showing Clarke his phone. "You promised you wouldn't do this to me."

"I didn't!" Clarke yells. "I wasn't talking about _OUR_ relationship, I was talking about your relationship with Gina Parker."

"What does Gina have to do with any of this?" He growls at her.

"You didn't hear," Clarke says, getting in his face, "that your romantic date was all over national TV?"

"It wasn't a date!" Bellamy says. "It was a dinner set up by the producers of Fire's Edge. They wanted Gina to sweet-talk me into doing another sequel." Losing all the animosity in his voice, he quietly adds, "Do you really think I would've said all those things to you and then just gone and dated someone else?"

"Do you really think that I would post photos of us online for free publicity?" Clarke tosses back just as quite as her anger abandons her too. "You really don't trust me."

"I guess about as much as you trusted me."

They stare at each other. A million emotions playing across both their faces. Finally Clarke breaks the standoff.

"Why don't we just get through Octavia's wedding, and then you can go back to your real life… and I'll go back to mine." Clarke is no longer meeting Bellamy's intense gaze.

"Fine." Bellamy huffs and walks out Clarke's door.

Once Bellamy leaves and Clarke can breath again, she pulls out her laptop and looks up the photos of that he'd shown her. Clarke feels her anger start to boil again as she skims through all the pictures.

Running to her room she throwing on some close and grabs her coat and runs out the down. Storming into the shop, she startles Raven who is busy doing inventory.

"Once this wedding is over, we are splitting up this business." She chokes out. Her voice is hard as she fights the tears threatening to spill. "I will do wedding planning. You will do dresses. I just can't work with you anymore."

"Wait. Clarke, let me explain!" Raven tries but Clarke brushes her off and locks herself in the office.

By mid afternoon, Clarke has managed to put herself together enough to venture down to the church. She has too many things left to do, to wallow in self pity.

She is busy directing church volunteers who here helping her decorate for the wedding to immediately notice Raven enter and make her way up the isle.

"I brought the veil." Raven says when Clarke finally spotted her and pauses in what she is doing.

"Thanks." Clarke says, taking the veil and turning to walk away. Raven stops her with a hand on her arm.

"I can't really talk, Raven." Clarke says not meeting her eyes.

"Okay, then I'll talk." Raven states, not letting go. "I just came to tell you in person, how sorry I am. I was just trying to save the business, and panicked."

"You lied to me."

"I know, and I am so, so sorry." Raven lets go of Clarke's arm as she turns to fully face Raven. "I've already apologized to Bellamy, if that makes a difference."

"So he knows it was you?" Clarke asks, feeling a small flicker of hope before she pushes it down.

"I hated the idea that you guys weren't together because of me."

Clarke shrugs. "It wasn't gonna work out anyway. You just sped up the inevitable."

"We didn't even need Bellamy for the publicity. I've been posting your idea boards all over our social media, and we have gotten so much more traffic just based on that alone," Raven says. "but Clarke, When people see what you've done here, you're gonna be huge."

"You really think so?" Clarke smiles sadly.

"I know so. This is all you."

"Well, none of this would've been possible if you had not laid the foundation." Clarke says to Raven. "Thank you for that."

"Do you think we can stay business partners?" Raven asks gently. "But more importantly, can we stay friends?"

Clarke lets out a long sigh and gives Raven a small smile. "One breakup is enough. Come here." And pulls Raven into a hug.

* * *

Jake was in town picking up some things for dinner when he spots Bellamy walking down the street.

"Hey there, Blake!" He calls out as Bellamy got closer.

"Hi, Jake."

"Is that for the wedding?" Jake asks looking at the small cake box in Bellamy's hands. Peering inside he looks up at Bellamy, surprised. "Is that a heart?"

Bellamy chuckles. "Yep, It's Lincoln's groom's cake." He laughs again as Jake stares back down at the cake. "Apparently, your daughter sided with Lincoln saying the cake was cool and Octavia was out numbered."

It was Jake's turn to chuckle. He gestured for Bellamy to walk with him a moment at the mention of his stubborn daughter.

"You know, I should probably get going." Bellamy holds up the cake box. "This need to be refitted for tomorrow."

Jake ignores him and starts to talk. "You know, I never had a son, so I'm probably gonna stink at this, but I know your dad's gone, so, can I offer you a little unsolicited fatherly advice?"

"No."

Jake smiles and continues talking as if Bellamy hadn't said anything. "Tough. Listen. Don't give up on Clarke. She's just afraid of having her heart broken again. Who can blame her?"

"You can see how much I care about her, Jake. But if she doesn't trust me, then how can it work?"

"From what I hear, you could use a little work in the trust department yourself." Jake sayss, having hear from Clarke about his accusations regarding the photos that had surfaced on them.

"I know, I know. I was gonna apologize to Clarke

the next time I saw her, but what difference would it make? She still thinks I'm with someone else. She won't talk to me."

"Well, you gotta look at things from Clarke's perspective." Jake says. He sit down as they come to a bench and Bellamy follows suit. "I mean, she sees you

here in Arkadia, and you're this nice, normal guy, then all of a sudden, on TV, there's "Bellamy Blake" doing "Bellamy Blake" things."

"I know. That's not really me. I don't even want that life anymore." Bellamy said looking away from Jake. "You know, after that dinner in L.A., I made a decision. Told my agent it was time to make some changes, start heading down a different path."

"And what path is that?"

"The path that leads here. This is the first time in my life that I've actually felt whole. I don't want to lose that. I've made enough money to where I don't have to." Bellamy says. "I could actually live here, and work when I want to work, on projects that excite me."

"Well, sounds like you found a little something called "balance."" Jake smiles.

"Yeah, but if Clarke's not with me, then what's the point?" Bellamy looks at Jake again. "I don't want to be here without her."

"Question: Why aren't you telling her all of this?" Jake asks.

"I told you she won't talk to me."

Jake springs up from his seat as an idea suddenly enters his mind.

"Wait a minute. I know where she's gonna be standing right next to you, with no escape." He says excitedly looking down at Bellamy. "I now pronounce you man and wife."

"I think you're rushing things just a little bit, Jake." Bellamy laughs, dismissing Jake.

Jake rolls his eyes. "Not you, fool! No, after Octavia and Lincoln walk back down the aisle, who you are you gonna be standing right next to? All alone."

Bellamy smiles. "You know, you're pretty good at this father/son stuff, Jake."

"Stick around awhile," Jake says. He clasped Bellamy on the shoulder as he stood back up as well. "I'll show you how to fish and change a tire."

"I'd like that." Bellamy chuckles.

"So would I."

* * *

Christmas Eve arrives and with it Octavia and Lincoln's wedding day. Octavia watches Clarke make her way down the isle as she bounces from foot to foot with nervous anticipation. She can't believe she is going to be someone's wife in just a few short minutes.

She touched the locket Bellamy gave her just that morning as an early Christmas present. She smiled remembering the meaning behind the pine trees he had told her as he'd slipped it around her neck. She closed her eyes and soaked in some of that strength now as she looked down the isle to Lincoln waiting for her.

"You look beautiful, O." Bellamy says coming to stand next to her.

"Everything is perfect, thanks to you and Clarke." She grins at him.

"Mom would've loved to do this, but I am so honored to give you away tonight. But you'll always be my little sister and if you ever need be to kick Lincoln's ass I'm on the first flight to London."

Octavia laughs and shakes her head, grabbing Bellamy in a fierce hug.

"I love you."

"I love you too, O." Bellamy says, clutching his sister just as tightly only letting go when the music for her to walk down the isle starts. Stepping back, he holds his arm out for her and they begin to walk towards her future.

When they reached Lincoln, Bellamy was a little hard pressed to let go causing more than a few chuckles from all the guest. Giving Octavia one last kiss on the cheek, he placed her hand in Lincoln's and took his place beside his soon to be brother-in-law as his best man.

As the vows were exchanged, Bellamy couldn't help sneaking glances over at Clarke. It pleased him to often catch her already sneaking her own glances.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride." The priest says.

Octavia shouts in triumph and wraps her arms around Lincoln's neck. His arms come down snug around her waist and he kisses her soundly. When they break apart they only have eyes for each other.

The happy, freshly married couple exchange hugs with both Clarke and Bellamy before starting back down the isle. Before Octavia takes even one complete step she turns back to them and whispers. "Now talk to each other. Please." Before allowing Lincoln to escort her to the waiting horse and carriage that would take them to the reception.

Clarke shakes her head as the guest start leaving, trailing behind the bride and groom. "You don't have

to do this, I'm fine."

"Well, I'm not." Bellamy says.

"You will be." Clarke tries to follow the guest out but Bellamy stops her grabbing her arm.

"Clarke, don't shut me out."

"You shut me out the minute you accused me of betraying your trust." She says. Her whispered voice echoed in the emptying church.

"You did the same thing, and neither of us did what we were accused of." Bellamy states.

"Clearly, neither of us is ready for this, so let's just celebrate Lincoln and Octavia, and move on with our lives." Clarke again tries to leave.

"Clarke. Wait. I am so sorry that I thought you had anything to do with those pictures of me." Bellamy says, stopping her again. "I just freaked out. It was my worst-case scenario come to life."

"Mine was seeing you on TV with Gina Parker, looking all cozy."

Bellamy stares at Clarke for a breath before reaching for a small present sitting in the front row of the church. "I have something for you."

"Bellamy…" Clarke trails off as she opens the gift and sees the first few chapters to the story she'd seen at his house that day. She smiled, glancing up at him before returning her gaze to the story in her hand.

"What if it doesn't work out?" She whispers. Her voice so soft Bellamy has to strain to hear her.

"What if it does?" He replies. Grabbing her chin, he forces her to look up at him. "let's take a big leap

of faith, together."

Bellamy shifts his hand so that he is cupping her cheek. Encouraged when she doesn't pull away and but rather leans into his touch, he continues expressing himself to her. "It's because of you that I learned how to appreciate the little things; to open up, slow down. To 'stroll'." He adds causing them both to laugh. "When I was back in L.A., just for one day, I was miserable because everything that makes me happy is right here."

Bellamy brings his other hand up to cup Clarke's other cheek. She closes her eyes and a small tear slips out against her will. Bellamy wipes it away and leans in to kiss her.

This time she doesn't pull away and Bellamy's lips touch hers. First questioning, then deepening when she licks at his lips seeking entrance. When they finally came up needing more oxygen in their lungs they smile at each other and burst out laughing.

"You have made quite the impression here." Clarke says stepping into his embrace as he smiles and leads her out of the church to head to the reception. As they hurried to catch up with the wedding group, he glances down and notices the worries look on Clarke's face.

"What's wrong?"

"I just realized, it's going to be really hard when you go back to L.A." Clarke says looking up at him.

Bellamy stops walking and turns Clarke to face him. Staring into her intensely memorizing blue eyes he says, "Clarke, I bought the house I was renting."

"You did?" Clarke squeals and throws her arms around him.

Bellamy grins and pulls Clarke back enough to look into her eyes again. "I'm home." He whispers as he captures her lips once again.


End file.
